MLB Bullets promises not to boar you

There was no way I wasn’t going with that headline today.

• We found out that the ankle injury suffered by Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes happened because he was trying to get out of the way of an angry wild boar and stepped in a boar trap. Cespedes’ contract was reworked this winter and he’ll only be guaranteed $6 million this year instead of the $29.5 million he was supposed to earn.
• In light of this news, David Adler and Manny Randhawa remember some of the strangest injuries in MLB history. We can add “attacked by a wild boar” to the list.
• The Nationals signed infielder Starlin Castro to a two year, $12 million deal.
• The Nats also agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal with infielder Asdrubal Cabrera.
• Ken Rosenthal reports these moves are Washington’s “Plan B” in case they don’t sign free agent Josh Donaldson. (The Athletic sub. req.) The Nats are still in on the bidding for Donaldson.
• The Twins are probably out on Donaldson.
• The Padres have re-signed reliever Craig Stammen for two years and $9 million.
• Oscar Luis Colás, who is known as the “Cuban Ohtani” because he’s both a left-handed pitcher and a power-hitting outfielder, has defected from Cuba and is expected to declare his desire to sign with an MLB team. Colás played in Japan for the Fukuoda SoftBank Hawks the past two seasons, but he’s only been a position player in Japan, unlike Ohtani.
• More on Colás with some video.
• Mark Feinsand has the 11 best remaining free agents.
• Andrew Simon has a list of still-unsigned free agents that could be a valuable 26th man for an MLB team. Remember, the 26th man isn’t in Triple-A anymore starting this year.
• Are you a MLB general manager who was planning to rebuild your bullpen through free agency and you just now realized that the store shelves have already been cleaned out of all the good stuff? You’re in luck because Mike Axisa has a list of relievers who could be available in trade.
• Mike Lupica explains why the Red Sox are trying to trade superstar outfielder Mookie Betts. It’s because MLB owners have decided the Competitive Balance Tax is now a salary cap and there is going to be hell to pay if this is shown to be collusion. Don’t tell me it’s because the Red Sox can’t afford to pay Betts. The same ownership group isn’t selling Virgil Van Dijk or Mo Salah so they can get Liverpool’s wage bill down.
• Craig Edwards looks at the Reds’ signing of outfielder Shogo Akiyama and how that may lead to a deal for Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor.
• Tony Wolfe thinks the Angels made a shrewd signing of catcher Jason Castro.
• Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said that the team’s 2017 title was not tainted in any way because of the sign-stealing scandal and appeared to criticize former teammate Mike Fiers for making the scheme public.
• Will Leitch has one prediction for each team for the 2020 season.
• Thomas Harrigan looks at nine hitters who need to return to form in 2020 after a poor 2019 season.
• Matt Kelly thinks Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres will be baseball’s next superstar. That’s it, rub it in. But the Cubs have still won a World Series more recently than the Yankees.
• Bradford Doolittle predicts what we’ll be saying in 2030 about how baseball changed over the next ten years. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Emma Baccellieri and Matt Martell try to predict the next ten years for each MLB team.
• Here are some of baseball’s greatest slides. Yes, El Mago is on the list.
• And here are some of the wildest double plays in baseball history, or at least in the history of stuff we have video for.
• Minor league baseball players suing MLB over years of allegedly illegal wages won a major victory as the Ninth Circuit court allowed the case to move forward as a class action suit.
• And finally, Josh Jackson is doing a two-part history of the Vernon Tigers, one of the best and wildest teams of the Pacific Coast League of exactly 100 years ago. The Tigers were owned by film star “Fatty” Arbuckle. Part two is scheduled to be published today.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.